The Craft of Stage: Ambitious Firehouse production starting to take shape

Friday

Apr 19, 2013 at 12:01 AMApr 19, 2013 at 7:13 PM

This is the third installment of "The Craft of Stage," following the process of staging a show, specifically "The 39 Steps," a Tony Award-winning spoof of the Alfred Hitchcock thriller, which will not open until June, but has been in the works for several months already. Now the team is ready to load up on actors, many of whom sniffed out the audition in Stage Source, a hook-up service for actors and theater producers, which brought in a flood of rock-solid regional actors and local talent. Wilkinson and Diering called the auditions, held in February, a full four months before the opening curtain, as the most challenging they had ever experienced because of the caliber of actors, who came in with comic monologues to show what they could do.

J.C. Lockwood

Editor’s Note: This is the third installment of "The Craft of Stage," following the process of staging a show, specifically "The 39 Steps," a Tony Award-winning spoof of the Alfred Hitchcock thriller, which will not open until June, but has been in the works for several months already.

Somebody put the idea of staging the Tony Award-winning "The 39 Steps," which comes at the Hitchcock classic by way of Monty Python’s Flying Circus, into Tim Diering’s head late last year. The Amesbury director approached Kimm Wilkinson, the artistic director of the Society for the Development of the Arts and Humanities, with an eye toward having the nonprofit foot the bill for the show. Wilkinson was game. After all, it had been a long time since the Market Square venue had put on a comedy – since the 2008 death of Peter Honegger, founder of Busy Boy/Bad Boy Productions, which had staged a popular series of British farces at the Firehouse. But before committing to anything, Wilkinson and Diering wanted to make sure they had the right tech team in place. The production has a small cast and a minimal set and requires major tech – lights, costuming, sound, special effects – to pull it off. Tech team locked in place, they brought the idea to the SDAH Programming Committee, then the full board. Both of which were totally on board. "I loved the wacky premise in which two actors play dozens and dozens of characters at such a fast pace and with so many costume, makeup and wig changes," says Maureen Daley, SDAH co-president. "I can’t wait to see how they pull it off."

Now the team was ready to load up on actors, many of whom sniffed out the audition in Stage Source, a hook-up service for actors and theater producers, which brought in a flood of rock-solid regional actors and local talent. Wilkinson and Diering called the auditions, held in February, a full four months before the opening curtain, as the most challenging they had ever experienced because of the caliber of actors, who came in with comic monologues to show what they could do. "In the show, there are so many fast scenes, it makes more sense coming in with monologues than with set pieces," says Diering. "We could have cast the play four times over with the level of talent that came out," says Wilkinson. "And that," she says, "Is a great problem to have."

To play the ingénue, they tapped Ashley Risteen, "a young actress in her 20s, with an exceptional gift for acting and exactly the right look," says Diering. "Beautiful and funny with great timing." Conor Maroney, new to the Port stage, brings "a great stage presence and great voice" to his portrayal of bored gentleman Richard Hannay, says Diering. And then there are the two so-called clowns, protean players in a very literal sense, the two actors who take on the bulk of the heavy theatrical lifting, performing multiple roles. How many is not quite clear, but maybe 20 apiece, more than enough, especially considering they sometimes change characters, and accents, and costumes, after only a couple of seconds. Making the cut is Steve Faria, the playwright, comedian and actor who led Little City Comedy Company, one of the first acts to play the Firehouse two decades ago — "and one of the funniest people I know. His sense of timing is impeccable. He’s a fount of comic inspiration," says Diering. He will work with Jim Manclark, the seasoned Amesbury actor and veteran of Honneger comedies like "Run for your Wife," "Funny Money" and "Laughter on the 23nd Floor." Manclark moved to Amesbury about 11 years ago. He had been living around the Capitol area, performing in theater at night and working as a paralegal assigned to one of the boatloads of independent councils investigating the whole Clinton deal — not the sexy one, but the one investigating Secretary of Agriculture Mike Espy, who was found not guilty on all 30 counts. Manclark met his wife, Christy, in a production of "South Pacific." They’re both acting still, juggling schedules these days because both are in rehearsal. She’s playing in the Anna Smulowitz production of "A Secret Garden."

"We’re the epitome of … I don’t know what," says Faria, during a recent interview.

"Obviously at this point of our careers we’re no longer leading men," says Manclark.

At which Faria nearly spits out his coffee.

"So we have a chance to shine on other levels," says Faria, dipping into a Scottish accent, the result of tutoring by George and Moira Williams, the Scottish friends of British-born Anne Easter Smith, who tutored the two actors on proper English accents, and the rough Londoner sound, both of which are needed in the production. (For German, another accent called for in the play, well, "they’re on their own," says Smith.)

Casting decisions made, the production team blew through the text in a read-through, which was, says Diering, "exactly how I envisioned it." The actors had a couple of weeks off, or, rather, to work on their own, as the tech team started looking at the shape and scope of the set, with several meetings to work out technical – read, to the layman, way-boring, but crucial details, like size and shape of the accessible stage, and dimensions of set pieces, all having a crucial impact on the choreography of a fast-moving production.

So far it’s been fun, improv-y. "That’s where we find the funny," says Manclark. They have that freedom right now, in rehearsal, while they are still finding their way around the characters and stage. It’s a let’s-see-how-it-works kind of thing — for now. "Which could all go out the window at a moment’s notice," Faria says. "Switching back and forth, talking to each other, spinning around while changing characters, it’s a real challenge. There can’t be a second of hesitation. There’s not going to be any time to think. It’s got to just happen or everything is lost."

"I’ve seen productions where they use more than four actors," says Faria. "I think that’s wrong, and counter-productive. What makes this show special is the multiple roles with minimal set. That’s where the energy comes. Usually you get into character and you sit in that body for a while and away you go. This is a whole ‘nother thing."

"The real challenge in all of this is finding the next character just like that," Manclark says, snapping his fingers.

But the fun time of improv will soon be over.

"The timing is so demanding, everything has to be tight," says Diering. "Anything that throws the timing off affects the quality of the scene. This is one production that, lights up, has to go like clockwork."

"This is a show with a minimal set, but what we lack in set we make up for in tech," Manclark says. "We create a set in the mind’s eye of the audience."

They are, he says, expecting long days and nights of tech rehearsal, which, thankfully for them, are not until the beginning of June.

"I can’t wait," says Wilkinson. "I’ve set high expectations and I know they are going to make it, but that doesn’t mean they will not be biting their nails from here on in."

Original content available for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons license, except where noted.
Wicked Local Plainville ~ 159 South Main St., Plainville, MA 02762 ~ Privacy Policy ~ Terms Of Service